Carly Simon

''While growing up I had such a terrible stutter that I was treated like a handicapped child,'' Ms. Simon recalled the other day. ''I remember as a very young girl going onstage and playing Amy in 'Little Women,' but because of my stammer, I couldn't even say my opening line. My first major anxiety attack onstage was in the early 60's when my sister Lucy and I were performing as the Simon Sisters in Lenox, Mass. One night, I spotted Odetta, who was one of my idols, in the audience. The moment I saw her I fainted head-on into a table of businessmen eating pasta.''

''I had two choices,'' Ms. Simon recalled. ''I could either leave the stage and say I was sick or tell the audience the truth. I decided to tell them I was having an anxiety attack, and they were incredibly supportive. They said, 'Go with it - we'll be with you.'

''But after two songs, I was still having palpitations. I suggested that I might feel better if someone came on the stage. About 50 people came up, and it was like an encounter group. They rubbed my arms and legs and said, 'We love you,' and I was able to finish the first show. But I collapsed before the second show with 10,000 people waiting. In retrospect, the very idea of the tour was foolish. My marriage to James Taylor was breaking up, and my son, Ben, had been sick and had had a kidney removed, and I'd lost 25 pounds. I was in terrible shape, physically and emotionally.''

-Carly Simon